Controlling mechanism for pneumatic sheet-feeders



v J. TAUSCHE'R. CONTROLLING MECHANI S M FOR PNEUMATIGSH EET- FEEDLRS.

APPLICATION FILED SIEPT. t, 1916.

. Patented Feb; 1,1921.

liliiiiiiliiiiiiliiiiiiiiilmu.

' the purpose of preventing the latter per relation with and receiving power from thetill 'UNITED S T ATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN- TAUS CHER, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO STOK ES do SMITH COMPANY, OIFYPHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A. CORPORATION-OF PENNSYLVANIA.

CONTROLLING MECHANISM non PNEUMATIC: SHEET-ramparts.

' Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Feb. 1, 1921.

Application filed September 1, 1916. Serial No. 117,998.

To ally/tom tit-may concern:

Be t known that I, JOHN TAUsoHEm-a citizen of the United States, residing at 2926 North 8th street, Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia'and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Controlling Mechanism for Pneumatic Sheet-Feeders, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to controlling mechanism adapted for use in conjunction with a pneumatic sheet feeding device for forming. its feeding function when condi' tions may render. it necessary or desirable to temporarily suspend or cease feeding the sheets during the running or continuing operation .01 the particular machine intended to operate upon such sheets.

In some instances, it is the practice to employ a pneumatic sheet feeding device in connection with certain machines, such as printing presses, gluing machines, .wrapping machines and the-like, the sheet feeding device functioning to. separate the individual sheets from a'stack or pile and forward "or advance the latter to the operating elements of the ress or machine. A pneumatic sheet feedlng device for this purpose generally operates upon the suction princi ple, and being usually associated in operative machineor a part of the machine to which it is pplied, will continue its sheet feeding functions as long as the driving or power transmitting elements of the machine are active. Under some conditions, or at certain times, the inability to instantly, and preferably automatically, throw the pneumatic sheet feeder out of operation is a distinct disadvantage. For instance, as an example, selecting a high speed power printing press of the rotary type, such as is conventionally .illustrated in the drawing herein, it may happen that one or more of the sheets may he improperly or irregularly fed to the press between the form cylinder carrying the printing plate and the impression cylinder or platen, or perhaps the sheet gripping de vices traveling with the impression cylinder may not grip or seize a sheet fed thereto. .When a sheet is thus improperly fed or fails to feed to the printing elements, it is the practice,. as conventionally illustrated herein, to prevent injury to the plates and prlntlng on the tympan' by automatically separating the form and the impression cylmders, thereby relievin the pressure between these cylinders w en the ress is in operation. When the form cylin er andim- 'pression cylinder are thus automatically separated it is also desirable for obvious reasons to prevent thepneumaticsheet feeder from continuing to pick off other indi vidual sheetsfrom the stack or pile and ad vance the same to the rotating cylinders;

Merely by way of lllllSbIEttlOIl, I have shown my invention as employed in connection with. a well-known typeo'f printing press equipped with a throw-off mechanism for separatingthe form cylinder from the Impression cylinder forthe urpose above briefly mentioned, but I wish it to be understood-that the invention is not limited in its useful application tothis particular type of apparatus, as'it may be employed in any connection wherein it is desired to control a pneumatic sheet feeding device for-the purpose of-rendering such device inoperative at such times as it is desirable to suspend theselecting and advancing of the sheets during the running of the machine. With the present invention I-propose to obviate the objections incident to the unitimely feeding or advancing ofthe sheets by providing means for automatically and instantly rendering the pneumatic sheet se lecting and feeding device inoperative the moment thepress or machine is thrown out of operation and this even though the driv- 'ing or power transmission elements are in action and continue to run or drive such press or machine.

With the above recited objects and others of a similar nature in view, my'invention consists in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts set forth in and falling within the scope of the appended claims.

In the drawing: Figure l. is view in side elevation illustrating conventionally a portion of a printing press equipped with my invention.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of a part of the machine showing'th'e arrangement of the solenoid and cam devices for actuating the llltl It will be noted that in Fig. 1, I have illustrated a suflioient portion of a well-known type of printing press to enable the application and operation of my present invention to be readily understood, but as this printing press of itself forms no part of the present invention it is not shown in all its spe-.

cific structural details,

Referring to said Fig. 1, the letter A designates the main frame of the press upon which is pivoted, at 1, a swinging frame 2 carrying the reciprocating feed table 3 upon which is adapted to be stacked or piled the sheets or blanks S which are intended to be fed to the machine. As the table moves forward a rotating picker or suction roll 4 forming a part of the pneumatic sheet selecting and feeding device operates to pick off the lowermost sheet from the stack or pile. This picker roll 4 operates intermittently in. a well known manner, that is to say'when it is in the position shown in Fig. 1, with its ports or suction openings 4 directly beneath the lowermost sheet or blank suction is exerted to cause such sheet to adhere to the roll and as such roll rotates it removes this bottom sheet and advances or carries it to the feed rolls 5 and 6 at which time the suction is removed by the bleeding of the roll, so that the s heet'is released and may be taken from the picker roll by the feed rolls 5 and 6 and fed by the latter to the sheet guide 7. When the picker roll 4 in its revolution again presents the ports 4 to the bottom of the stack of sheets b, the suction is restored. The structure and operation of such a picker roll is well known in the art. As the selected sheet passes beneath the sheet guide 7 it is fed between the form cylinder .8 and the impression cylinder 9, andcis printed or operated upon in the usual manner.' This impression cylinder 9, is mounted at each end in a sliding box or bearing 10, and likewise the take-off cylinder 11, is mounted at each end in a sliding box or bearing 12, the boxes of the two cylinders 9 and 11 being connected as shown in Fig. 1, so that both cylinders may be'moved simultaneously toward and from the form cylinder, this enabling the impression cylinder to be separated or thrown away from the form cylinder when a sheet fails to feed or is improperly fed. This separation of the form and impression cylinders is automatically accomplished by throw off mechanism, of itself known in the art, and which may be briefly described as follows:

The impression cylinder carries grippers 13, which lie directly over contact plates 14,

the latter being arranged in an electric circuit indicated as an entirety by the letter C.

The sheets are grasped beneath these grippers and the cylinder body and carried around as usual. Should the sheet be improperly fed, as by being presented askew to the grippers or should the grippers fail to grasp a sheet, one or more of such grippers will contact with the adjacent and underlying contact plate or plates, and the electric circuit will be closed. Of course when the sheet is properly fed or grasped by the grippers it will be interposed between the latter and the contact plates and )revent the closing of the electric circuit. Vith the closing of the electric circuit and under the conditions mentioned the solenoid magnet 15, is energized and the core or plunger 16 thereof attracted or pulled inward. Lhis solenoid magnet is mounted on a bar 17 having a slotted end 18 fitting over the end of the continuously driven shaft 19. This shaft has fixed thereto and rotatin therewith a suitable cam 20. The solenoi plunger carries a yoke 21 at its outer end and which yoke fits in the groove 22 of the sliding roller 23 on the shaft 24 carried by the bar 17. As the plunger is attracted when the magnet'is energized by the closing of the electric circuit, it pulls the roller 23 into the path of the rotating cam 20. The latter contacting with the roller 23, will of course, shove the latter forward thus pushing on the bar and shifting the latter longitudinally. This bar is pivoted at 25 to one arm of the bell crank lever 26 on the rock shaft 27. To the other arm 28, as at 29 of the bell crank is pivoted one end of the link bar 30, the upper end of which is connected with the pivot 31 of the toggle link 32. One end of this toggle link is connected at 33 to the sliding bearing box 12 while the other end is pivoted at 34 to the frame A. At the opposite side of the machine the bell crank, link bar and toggle arrangement is duplicated, with the exception that the bell crank lever shown in Fig. l, is provided witha handle 26.

When the cam contactin with the roller 23 pushes the bar'l7, longitudinally, the bell crank levers and the link bars and toggles are drawn downward to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, and the impression in the present instance a flexible hose section 35 and a ipe 36 connected with the suction pump With this pipe 36 is arranged a hand valve 37 for regulating the suction on the picker roll, as will be readily understood. 1 also arrange in the suction pipe 36 adjacent the bar 17, a rotary bleeding valve V, shown in detail in Figs. 3

and 4; This valve includes an inner shell 38, having air ports 39 alining with air ports 40 in the pipe 36, and an outer sleeve 41 511811 as with ports 43 adapted toibe before described thus opening the valve V.

and bleeding the suction line, consequently removing the suction on the picker roll, so 7 that the latterwill not separate and feed the sheets. This of course occurs at thetime the cylinders 8 and 9'are separated as before mentioned.

It will thus be noted that the instant the throw ofl' devices'for the cylinders are operated the above described suction picker will also be rendered inoperative and this in spite of the fact that the power is on the press or machine and the latter continues to operate. sheet separating and fee ing device, I insure that the'passage of the sheets to the press, when they cannot be printed upon, will be avoided and consequently the liability of clogging the press with these sheets is obviated.

If desired, as whenmaking adjustments to press and ink fountain, the throw off de-' vice for the cylinders and for the pneumatic picker roll can'be manually operated by depressing the handle '26 and securing the hook 45 beneath the pin 46.

While I have herein shown and described the preferred embodiment of my invention I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to all the precise details of construction herein set forth by way of illustration, as modification and variation may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or exceeding the scope of the appended claims:

1. n a printing press, the combination with the frame thereof, a form cylinder and an impression cylinder slid'ably mounted on said frame, a rotatable suction sheet feeding roll adapted to pick off the lowest sheet from a pack of sheets and feed it between By thus cuttin off the pneumatic .inder and to simultaneousl functioning of the sheet fee ing roll, comthe cylinders, said roll being connected with a pipe having a valve located therein, a triping mechanism for effecting the relative movement between the cylinders. to bring them into and out of cotiperative relation one with the other, a longitudinally shiftable bar having a valve actuating member projecting therefrom, a rocking lever of the trippingi'mechanism connected with said bar, of "a solenoid magnet mounted upon the shiftable bar, an electric circuit therefor,-

and means operable when the magnet is energized, to shift said bar longitudinally to cause the valveactuating member to opcrate and render the suction roll inactive b operating the valve in the suction pipe lea ing thereto and to simultaneously cause the lever to work and actuate its connection with the cylinders to bring about their separa tion. v 2. In a printing press, the combination with the frame thereof, of a form cylinder and an impression cylinderslidably mount ed on said frame, a rotatable suction sheet feeding roll adapted to separate the lowest sheet from a pack of sheets and feed it to the impression cylinder gripper fingers, a

suction pipe leading to said suction sheet feeding roll, an electro-mechanical tripping mechanism for effecting the relative move-- ment between the form and impression cylcontrol the prising a moving cam, an electrical contact member operated by clamping downmf a gripper finger to actuatea solenoid magnet, a bar capable of being reciprocated and adapted to be thrown in the path of the moving cam upon energizing of the solenoid magnet, and a projecting stud on .said re-" ciprocalibar adapted upon reciprocation'of said bar to strike a valve actuating member too stop the flow of air "through the suction pipe leading to the suction sheet feeding roll, to stop the roll from feeding sheets upon the separation of the impression and 

